cofee's

He had perhaps first detected its death rattle when he suggested to a restaurateur the removal of the apostrophe in a sign advertising the sale of “coffee’s.”

“I said very politely, ‘It’s not needed. It’s a plural,’ ” Mr. Richards recalled. “But the man said: ‘I think it looks better with an apostrophe.’ And what can you say to that?”

RIP Mr. Richards, custodian of the humble apostrophe.